A Day in the Life of a Commander
by AreiaCananaid
Summary: He wanted to know exactly how many problems could arise in a single day. Surely, he had reached the limit of things going wrong. Surely that meant that things could only start to look brighter from there. Though, perhaps things looking brighter, is really only the result of looking at them differently.
1. Morning: Ambush

**A Day in the Life of a Commander**

**Summary:** He wanted to know exactly how many problems could arise in a single day. Surely, he had reached the limit of things going wrong. Surely that meant that things could only start to look brighter from there. Though, perhaps things looking brighter, is really only the result of looking at them differently.

"They were an odd bunch but, in reality, what family was ever completely without its quirks? If a man was defined by those who stood at his side, then he was indeed a lucky commander to have such men as these. Those who followed him unwaveringly through trials as well as victory, joy as well as pain."

**A/N:** As of recently, I have found myself wondering what it would be like for Chrom to observe, and sometimes deal with, all the support conversation business that goes on between his men from his position as commander of the army. I also wondered how he would deal with all the heartbreak, hilarity, moments of quiet and excitement, love, and general bro-ness that ensues because of it all. I have had this idea and the rough draft for a while now and finally found enough courage to post it. I enjoyed planning this out and writing it and, it is my dearest wish that you will all enjoy reading it. :)

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><p><strong>Morning- Ambush<strong>

"Heads up!"

Sumia's voice rang through the shadows of the pre-dawn forest. Chrom leaped out of the way of a speeding arrow seconds before it hit him. With a deft flick of his wrist, he thrust his blade Falchion through the Risen archer who had shot it.

"Thanks," he grunted, allowing his tensed muscles to relax slightly as his gaze took in the apparent lack of foes nearby.

He had long since learned to take advantages of the lulls in battle when they came. He relaxed his muscles but not his guard, never his guard. He silently cursed the thick forest around him. Ever since they had entered its dark depths to cross the border from Ferox to Plegia, to say there had been nothing but trouble would have been an understatement.

To think that this was supposed to have been a peaceful diplomatic mission to Plegia to ask for aid. Valm was leading a campaign against their continent and they needed ships. Chrom thought that simply trying to meet and negotiate with Ylisse's former enemies would be a task difficult enough in itself, without the added dangers that they now faced. They had not even made it to Plegia, so hindered had they been by the hidden treacherous nature of these beautiful pine mountain foothills.

This day was no exception to their struggles. His Shepherds had been awakened a couple hours before sunrise when Frederick, Chrom's head knight, had spotted a skirmish army of Risen while on his watch, intending to catch their army off guard. They had since driven the enemy off and had nearly defeated them. Unfortunately, the rocky, thickly forested foothills of the mountains had forced them to divide their forces leaving them to fight skirmish guerrilla style rather than their typical battle formations. Consequently, Chrom found that his half of the split forces were spread thin throughout the mossy trees.

Sumia landed her Pegasus at his side, her beautiful light mouse brown hair streaming behind her in the early morning breeze. His eyes softened slightly as he looked at her, to him she was always more beautiful than any of the flowers she used for her fortunes. He quickly shook his head back into focus- now was definitely not the time for him to go all ogle eyed.

"I think one of the Risen slipped through our attack," she told him softly, her tone concerned.

Chrom frowned at her words then turned swiftly as he caught a fleeting motion in his peripheral vision. He saw the silken streaming fabric and flowing light lavender pink hair of Olivia the dancer. She was followed closely by the black cloaked thief Gaius- whom Chrom might have missed entirely, such was his practiced stealthy movements from shadow to shadow- if it were not for his bright copper-red hair.

"Those two will get it," he said.

Olivia and Gaius were some of his nimblest troops and he did not doubt their capabilities. Sumia nodded her agreement. Olivia and Gaius were both known to dislike killing, but their reservations did not extend to the resurrected dead, soulless, creatures of evil they fought now. Chrom could not say he liked fighting real humans either, but he would do anything to protect the ones who could not defend themselves. His eyes flicked to the spot where the Risen he had slain had previously lain; only to see that it had vanished, dissolved into a noxious purple haze. A blackened stretch of ground was the only remnants of its gruesome presence. He shuddered.

When he looked back up, he saw Frederick and the taugel Panne heading towards him for a rally so they could regroup. Chrom called Gaius and Olivia's names but was interrupted by Sumia.

"Captain look!"

Chrom followed her pointing finger to see Robin, his tactician and best friend, dash towards him, worry etched upon her features.

She had been leading the second half of his forces, and she was not one to just abandon her troops and run off before she saw the fruition of her plans. The absence of the taciturn sword master Lon'qu only added to his worry, for she had paired herself up with him at the start of the fight.

Despite Lon'qu's reservations around females, he and Robin made a formidable team on the field of battle. The Myrmidon warrior normally turned into an ill at ease half of himself in the presence of ladies, but somehow Robin seemed to have alleviated some of his trepidation so that they had almost become close friends even off the battle field.

Robin had a knack for creating perfect matches for battle partners during a fight, they varied depending on the situation and were often some of the most unlikely, but they turned out to work extremely well- like Frederick and Panne for instance. Robin could instantly see both the big and small pictures of anything and know what it would take to win and how to go about it. Tangent aside, he rushed towards her, knowing something was seriously amiss.

"What's wrong? Where's Lon'qu?" he asked in a rush of worry.

"Chrom!" she gasped with a frown, "I left Lon'qu to hold the line. Our army is in serious trouble. I had thought that when I split our forces to compensate for the way the enemy split themselves to hide on either side of this edifice," she gestured to the thirty foot tall mica encrusted granite outcropping of rock to their right which split the forested valley they were fighting in right down the middle, "I thought each half of our army would be facing an equal number of foes. By all rights it should have been, but it's as if the enemy caught wind of our scheme, almost like we had an informant blab secrets. The other half of our forces have met with heavy resistance, if we don't send help they will be overwhelmed."

"Oh, no," Olivia declaimed, who in responding to Chrom's earlier call had finally joined them and heard Robin's last words.

"Where's Gaius?" Chrom asked noticing the absence of the thief from her side.

"I thought he was right behind me, but he disappeared," Olivia whispered with a blush, obviously not enjoying the stares of everyone around her.

"I saw Gaius sneak out of camp last night, he disappears now when everything goes wrong, and Robin thinks there is a traitor amongst us," Frederick spoke with a frown, "forgive me for saying so but that seems extremely suspicious."

"B-but Gaius wouldn't-" Olivia started to protest but was cut off by the furious knight.

"Gaius is a thief; Milord only let him join us because he had use of his skill for thwarting the assassination attempt on Emmeryn. Once you start down the dark path it only ever gets easier to step farther." Frederick mumbled the last part as if speaking to himself.

Chrom frowned at the accusation. Frederick had always been very wary and extremely protective of his close friends, he knew because they had practically grown up together. Almost nothing meant more to him than honor and loyalty, which made him slow to trust or respect anyone. It had been that way with Robin at first.

Chrom trusted Gaius as did most of his Shepherds, but it was true that something was not adding up, and with all the evidence and way things were turning out, Gaius was not smelling much like the proverbial rose at the moment. He quickly thrust those thoughts aside, this had no bearing with the immediate situation at hand, his troops were in danger. He could deal with this later.

"Now is not the time," he warned Frederick, and his first knight nodded. "Right," Chrom said. Signaling for his troops to follow, he began to lead them away.

"Wait Chrom! Let the others go, I have another plan," Robin called.

Chrom nodded and gestured for the others to go on without him. They shot him slightly apprehensive glances but obeyed none the less.

"There is a bit of a clearing up ahead and I want you to meet me there," his tactician said in a rush. "I'll catch up with you as soon as I can."

Chrom agreed and set off in the direction she had indicated. Her instructions did, admittedly, seem odd, but a few of her more brilliant schemes had seemed that way at first. She had gotten him out of many a tight situation and he trusted her with his life; more than that, he trusted her with the lives those under his command.

"I will be right there," she assured him as she backed off into the shifting shadows of the surrounding tress.

Her normal expression seemed to flicker for a fraction of a moment. Her eyes seemed to harden and an uncharacteristic smirk, that more mirrored a leer, spread across her face. Before Chrom could puzzle at it, she was gone. Shrugging it off, he dashed towards the clearing.

**~x~X~x~**

Sumia urged her Pegasus to faster speeds as she reached the edge of the rock outcropping and made a sharp dangerous swooping turn around it so it was to her left. The suddenness of the motion nearly knocked her off her graceful mount and she scrabbled frantically at her steed's mane to steady herself, nearly dropping her lance in the process. She righted herself swiftly and speed towards where the other half of their forces were embattled, cursing herself for being clumsy.

She frowned in confusion. There were Risen, that was true, but they were nowhere near the numbers that Robin had indicated and it appeared that the Shepherd forces were acquitting themselves well. What she saw next caused her to gasp in shock. It was a sound that was echoed by the other reinforcements behind her. Robin was at the head of the army with Lon'qu at her side.

Sumia felt her brow furrow in concerned suspicion. She had a reputation amongst her fellow soldiers for having a tendency to be a bit scatterbrained on occasion, but even she knew that there was absolutely no way Robin could have gotten there before them. Something was terribly wrong.

Robin must have seen them for she signaled Sully, Libra, and Stahl to take charge before she and Lon'qu ran towards them, followed by Maribelle.

When Robin took in their horrified faces, her own crinkled with worry.

Sumia heard Frederick begin to breathlessly explain what had occurred. As he talked, Robin's expression grew more disturbed.

"That wasn't me, I've been here the whole time," she whispered.

"It's true," Lon'qu affirmed shortly.

"There is only one reason I can think of to explain what has just occurred—a trap." Robin mused softly, "I fear Chrom is in danger- we need to get to him as soon as possible."

"Climb on!" Sumia said, and Robin mounted her Pegasus behind her. Frederick extend the same offer to Lon'qu and they sped off back the way they had come, followed by Panne, Olivia, Maribelle, and a curious Tharja on foot. The rest of the Shepherds stayed behind to finish off the remaining Risen.

Sumia turned the corner sharply again, but this time with more control. She felt Robin's arms encircle her and hold on tightly as she urged her steed up over the treetops towards where they had last seen Chrom.

Sumia felt her breath hitch when she caught sight of a clearing up ahead. The granite edifice- the source of all their consternation- looped slightly around the edge of the clearing to make a U-shape. There, backed against the cold wall of the cliffs was Chrom and, surrounding him on all other sides, was about twenty Risen warriors. The man she loved was fighting like a demon, but even he hardly stood a chance against so many.

"Try to fly over the Risen. See if we can get at him from above."

Sumia could tell by the tight, horror filled tone of Robin's voice that she was just as terrified for their leader's life as she was.

Wordlessly, Sumia guided her pegasus towards the one-sided battle, only to be driven back by countless arrows. The heavy shafted bolts were fired at them as soon as they were spotted within range.

"I can't get to him in such heavy fire," Sumia exclaimed miserably, on the verge of panicking, "We will be shot down. There is no way I can possibly reach him." Her voice tightened with anguish.

Chrom's sword glistened. The first rays of the rising sun reflected of its surface as he twirled it expertly around himself in a deadly display of mastery. A pile of dissolving Risen carcasses lay by his feet, but any fool could see that he was overwhelmed. It would only be a matter of time before an enemy slipped past his guard.

"We will just have to fight our way to him from the ground," Robin said.

Sumia guided her mount downwards towards the back of the mass of foes. They arrived on the ground at the same time as Panne in her taguel form, Lon'qu and Frederick.

The first knight charged forward immediately, lance outward in perfect form, a battle cry emanating from his lips. Sumia had hardly ever seen Frederick so furiously desperate in his manner of attack. As Frederick charged forward into the enemy lines, Lon'qu leaped of the back of Frederick's charger, and landed, sword flashing, into the ranks of enemy soldiers, scattering them like wheat at harvest day. With Panne and Robin on Frederick's left and the recently arrived Tharja and Maribelle with Lon'qu on the right, they began to carve a path to their leader as they attacked in a near perfect wedge formation.

Sumia felt tears prickle her eyes. From her slightly elevated position, she could see Chrom was tiring. Two years of marriage to the warrior prince, years of fighting at his side and training with him had made her attuned to him. Deep down, she knew that, despite her friends' valiant efforts, they would never reach their captain in time. She was about to lose the person she loved most in this world.

With a scream of anguish she began to guide her Pegasus back up to the sky to re-try her earlier failed desperate gambit. She wished with all her heart that she was stronger, and prayed that she could find a way to save the man who had always loved her for who she was, despite what she perceived as shortcomings, the man who was the father of their child and shared her heart.

She stilled suddenly as her sharp silvery mouse-brown eyes caught sight of a black shadow by the largest tree near the edge of the 'U' shaped granite escarpment. The shadow had been unnoticed by the enemy as he had come unexpectedly from the side. Sumia recognized the stealthy moving figure as Gaius.

She watched as the thief scaled the massive tree with all the agility of a squirrel. When he was about thirty feet up and at a parallel height to the cliff's top, he dashed out across a thick bow of the huge pine and leaped the twelve feet from the branch to the sheer wall of stone. He just caught the ledge with his hands and slowly pulled himself over the top, boots searching for footholds in the granite.

He scrabbled over the edge and then ran across the flat top of the cliff to where Chrom fought below him. Sumia felt her heart fill slightly with hope. Perhaps Gaius's shortcut would buy them the time they so desperately needed. Her determination bolstered, she landed her steed amidst the Risen forces with a wild battle cry.

**~x~X~x~**

Chrom felt his arm tremble slightly as his blade and the axe of a foe met in a grind. He disentangled his weapon quickly and dispatched the dark creature only just in time to duck another axe and parry a sword thrust.

In following Robin's instructions, he had managed to walk straight into an ambush. He had lost count of how many enemies he had slain. He knew he was tiring. The solid wall of the cliff face behind him was proving to be his greatest asset yet also his greatest curse. Without its solid presence guarding his back, he would have long since fallen, but as it was, he was cornered by it with no way to escape.

Sweat poured down his face, stinging his eyes. His muscles burned form the exertion and still the enemy came at him. They were like a never-ending tidal wave. In the distance he saw seven of his men fighting desperately towards him, and that small sidelong glance nearly cost him his eye. He dodged, but blood poured down from the slight graze and half blinded him. There were just so many of the enemy, he knew he could not hold out much longer. He knew his friends would never reach him in time. If he fell, he would surly die.

A spear butt slipped passed his guard and cracked him in the side. As he reeled back, a massive axe thrust pushed him further off balance. The tail end of a magic attack blasted him to his back. As he fell, he saw his friends' wide terrified desperate eyes. Even Tharja looked horrified. He could hear many of them screaming out his name as he hit the cold unforgiving ground with a dull thud.

He was down and he knew he was finished. He stared numbly in to the dead glowing eyes of a Risen warrior as the monster raised its axe to end his life. All Chrom could think was that this was not how or when he had wanted to die. The risen axe-man began to bring down his weapon in a deadly gleaming arc. Something black detached itself from about halfway down the cliff face directly above him, and with a cocky cry of, "sneak attack!" landed on Chrom's would be murderer and crushed the Risen, using its monstrous body as a shock absorber.

"Gaius," Chrom gasped.

"Yup," the thief shot him a grin and parried the sword thrust of Chrom's next attacker. "Oh, rejected!" he mocked as he pushed the solder back.

Filled with new hope and strength, Chrom leaped to his feet and placed himself back to back with Gaius.

"Where in Ylisse did you come from?" Chrom asked as they fought.

"Up," Gaius replied with a chuckle.

"I could see that," Chrom resisted the urge to roll his eyes, "But I mean how did you get here, or rather up there?"

"I saw you needed a hand. So I climbed."

Chrom could tell by the sound of the thief's voice that he was smirking and Chrom could not hold back a grin of his own.

"Let's see if we can fight our way free; skirt the cliff and move to the right!"

"Got it, Blue," came the reply.

The two began to move, their swords carving themselves a desperate path to freedom.

As they neared the edge of the swarming mass of attackers, the sound of countless twanging bow strings filled the air. About ten of the Risen had notched arrows to their bows aimed and fired straight at the thief, and Chrom's back. An arrow whizzed past Chrom's ear from behind, followed by two successive dull clanking sounds as the thief batted two others aside with a sudden lightning fast movement of his sword. He heard Gaius gasp suddenly behind him, followed by a strangled muted cry. Chrom tore his eyes off the enemy for the fraction of a second it took to glace behind him, only to see that Gaius was still standing at his back.

"Hang on! Were nearly free," Chrom assured. He got only a muffled grunt in answer.

Chrom lost himself in battle fury, he acted and reacted to every Risen in his way and soon he realized he was swinging his blade at nothing. They had made it through the insurmountable press, and pushed through the enemy's weakened right flank. Grinning, he turned towards Gaius only to be met by empty air.

"Gaius?" he whirled around, searching the battlefield he had just come through.

In the distance, he saw his men engaging the last the Risen ambush party. Directly in front of him were the slowly dissolving husks of the Risen he and Gaius had slain. Chrom dashed back through their midst until he found what he was searching for- baggy black pants tucked into grieves and black boots, a grey and black tunic framed by a flowing black cloak, and a bright shock of silky straight copper-red hair surrounded by a darker stain of heart clenching red. And that stain of red could only belong to him for Risen could not bleed.

Chrom felt his breath hitch as he raced to where the thief lay. The grey goose-feathered shaft of an arrow protruded from his chest near his shoulder, his left forearm sprawled at and awkward angle, broken like the gauntlet above it, a red stain wetting the black of his sleeve and the ground beside it. It was as if, in desperation, he had thrown up an arm to ward of an axe blow and his bracer had not been able to fully shield him from the hit. His face was even more pale than usual, his eyes closed, his mouth for once devoid of the characteristic sucker-stick that usually occupied it. If it weren't for the shallow shuddering rise and fall of his chest Chrom would have feared the worst.

He knelt at his side, whilst searching his person for any healing equipment. His search was rewarded only with near empty bottle of vulnary. Gaius's eyes flicked open and he fixed Chrom with a sad shadow excuse of his cocky smile.

"Guess I got careless," he grunted, his voice thick with pain, "but obviously even the swiftest thief can't dodge every arrow in a volley," his breathless chuckle ended in a groan.

Careless dodging? Chrom wondered with a pang. He knew that Gaius had tried to block all the arrows with his sword. They had been standing back to back and the arrows had been aimed at the thief's front. If Gaius had, in fact, dodged, Chrom knew he would be the one with an arrow in his back instead of the thief with one in his chest.

"I owe you my life," Chrom whispered softly, "thanks."

"Consider us even, you've saved my hide more times than I can count," another half-smile.

Chrom clenched his teeth, "I'm going to get the arrow out, alright?"

Gaius nodded. That was by far his most dangerous wound and it needed to be taken care of quickly. Everyone else was too busy with the last of the enemy to be of any help so the task fell to him. Though his supply of vulnary was small he was sure it would suffice to stop the bleeding, if nothing else. Chrom gently lifted Gaius up to see that the arrow had passed clean through him.

That, at least was a bit of a blessing. All he would have to do would be to break off the head and pull it out. Chrom bit his lip when he saw the massive barbed head of the arrow, made especially for piecing armor and bone. Its size in comparison to the shaft was a sure explanation for the bleeding. He took a breath to steady himself- he knew well how badly what he was about to do hurt.

"Ready?" he asked.

Gaius clenched his right hand and nodded. Chrom tried to make it as quick and as painless as possible. He closed his eyes and winced at the sound of the thief's cry. When it was out, he quickly poured vulnary into the entry and exit wounds, to stop him from bleeding to death. He watched as it took effect and mended the torn muscles and flesh. By this time, Gaius was only semi-conscious, staring blankly at him through half-silted eyes. Chrom cursed the Risen for about the millionth time that day.

Grimacing, he turned his attention to the thief's arm. He gently took it in his hands and began to carefully remove the broken gauntlet to see the extent of the damage to the limb. Gaius's hazel-green eyes suddenly went wide with pain, and surprisingly, with what Chrom interpreted as terror. All hints of his casual manner were gone. Perhaps it was this sudden change which startled Chrom the most.

The thief opened his mouth as if to speak but no words came out only a muted strangled sound. His right hand shakily flew towards Chrom and desperately but weakly tried to pry his captain's hands of his injured forearm.

"Gaius, hold still. I need to see how bad it is," he pushed the questing fingers away.

"P-please Chrom," Gaius chocked, his uninjured hand once again trying to stop his commander.

The use of his real name instead of the friendly nickname, Blue, which Gaius usually called him by, caught Chrom off-guard.

"Stop it! I'm trying to help," he tried to say gently through his growing exasperation, "you will only hurt yourself if you keep struggling."

Gaius did not stop. Chrom was about to get annoyed, when he was startled by a soft voice behind him.

"Why not let me try?" Robin stepped forward. "It's his left arm, is it not?" she said with a slight sigh, more as a statement of fact then an actual question. Her stormy eyes filled with concern as she took in the state of her fallen friend.

"Oh, Gaius," she whispered as she knelt beside him. She did not bother to ask if he was alright for she could see well enough that he wasn't. Chrom could see the worried pain on her face as she leaned towards one of her closest friends, her hand giving a feather soft yet fleeting touch on his ashen cheek.

"May I see it?" she finally asked, gently.

Much to Chrom's consternation Gaius agreed. He glared at the pair with a raised eyebrow and did not miss the slight secretive look that passed between them, as he placed the thief's badly broken arm in his tactician's care.

"Why do I feel as if I have been left out of the loop?" he asked suspiciously.

Robin shot him a sympathetic glance, the effects of which were somewhat spoiled by her next comment.

"Maybe he just wanted a more gentle, caring healer?" she suggested all too innocently.

Chrom snorted, "I was being gentle."

"Says the man who decimates the camp every time he trains."

Her teasing smile turned into a wince as she took in some of the damage to the arm without even removing the gauntlet. Gaius was quickly losing consciousness from the pain and blood loss. A shadow fell across them and Chrom, Robin, and even Gaius, looked up to see a stern looking Maribelle. She eyed the stricken thief with an expression akin to distaste, and a glare so hard it made even Chrom feel uncomfortable. Gaius seemed to blanch further, if it was at all possible, his previously terrified hazel orbs filling with shame or regret, perhaps.

"I-I'm s-sorry," Gaius muttered, his eyes continuing to dull as he slipped further.

Maribelle's eyes softened ever so slightly. She brought down her cleric's staff towards his bloody injured arm, intent on mending the bone and gash. Gaius's teeth were clenched in pain as he tried to contain a gasping moan. As Maribelle continued her ministrations however, his breathing calmed and his body relaxed fractionally.

'_What was that about?_' he thought at Robin, while the healer worked.

She caught his questioning look and shrugged. Chrom liked to think he knew everything about his men, but obviously that was not a true as he had hoped. Maribelle usually had the poise and bearing of a proper lady, but if someone got on her bad side, there would be hell to pay. Maribelle ignored his potent glance of inquiry and flounced away amidst the rustle of petticoats as soon as she was finished.

"Why do I feel as if I have been left out of the loop again?"

"Probably because you have been?" Robin suggested unhelpfully as she bent over Gaius.

She removed his ruined gauntlet, and dressed the freshly healed wound with surprising speed, before Chrom could even get a good look. All he saw was a fleeting glimpse of something black, a tattoo perhaps? Although it was mended, it was going to be very sore for a while, Chrom knew.

Gaius muttered the nickname he had given Robin before his eyes shut completely and his consciousness finally left him.

Sighing, Chrom picked up the limp body of the thief, which was much lighter than he had expected- considering his obsession with sugary treats. In fact, his slender well-muscled and fit body gave no indication whatsoever to his sweet tooth. He held him bridal style and turned to trudge wearily back to camp.

He glared at the barely risen run. If the beginning of a day gave any indication as to how the rest would play out, this was probably going to be an excruciating one.

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><p><strong>AN:** Thank you for reading! I hope you all have the most pleasant of weeks until next time! I really appreciate feedback and constructive criticism. I plan for this tale to be about five chapters long, and the next chapter should be up about this time next week. Thanks again!


	2. Midday: The Shepherd's Camp

**Midday- The Shepherd's Camp**

Chrom had made it about halfway across the field- with Robin at his side- when the others caught up with them, headed by a worried Frederick and Sumia.

"Chrom, are you alright?" Sumia cried as soon as she slowed her mount. She leaped off its back and raced to her husband's side as if about to throw herself upon him.

"I'll be fine," he half-smiled at her.

Then, as if for the first time noticing his presence, Sumia halted before she leapt. Her sudden motion almost caused her to lose her balance as her gaze fell upon still form of Gaius. She gasped, her eyes widening and beginning to fill with tears, "I-is… is he…"

"He lost a lot of blood but I think he should be able to pull through alright," Chrom reassured her.

The others looked relieved as well.

"What he did was completely suicidal, but I can't argue with the results," Panne muttered with what almost appeared to be a smile. "Are all man-spawn so reckless?"

"The good ones are," Chrom replied with a wan smile.

Chrom's half of the army met up with the others at the end of the now hated granite edifice. Frederick had offered to let Gaius ride with him, so Chrom could walk unhindered. Although that was the only reason his first knight had given, Chrom could not help but notice the slightly guilty expression that crossed the stoic knight's features every time he looked down at the unconscious thief in front of him.

As they neared their camp, Chrom turned a curious eye towards Argon.

"Tell me, how did you manage to re-rally the army to come to my aid so fast? And, for that matter, was it part of your plan to lead me into an ambush?" he teased.

"What's wrong?" he asked when he saw Sumia and Argon's faces.

"So, the whole attack on our camp was like an elaborate assassination attempt? And who is you evil look alike?" he asked when Sumia and Robin had explained what they knew.

Robinmerely shook her head puzzled, as in the dark as he.

"I have no idea."

"Now that I look back, it screams out to me that I did notice that something felt and looked a little off. The morning was so shadowy and I was so focused on the fight that I don't believe I even really saw the face properly. I feel like a fool."

"No more than we, milord. Don't forget that we were ensnared by that dark creature's rouse as easily as you," Frederick sighed as he drew up alongside them.

Chrom frowned and looked down at his remark.

"You could not have known," Sumia whispered.

"Yes, but now what I do, what will we do about it?"

"I don't think we can do much until we get more evidence or my plagiarizer shows themselves again."

Chrom agreed as the company came to a halt at their camp. He helped Frederick lower Gaius off his horse. He held the thief in his arms as he spoke to Frederick.

"Make sure all the wounded are attended to and double the guard for as long as we remain here, just to be certain."

"A wise order milord," Frederick said approvingly. "We cannot be too certain with this new development."

"It's not just this matter today though," Chrom mused. "I don't know what it is, but the nearer we get to Plegia the more uneasy I feel. Perhaps it is because of the war, or my own reservations. I don't know." He shook his head, "don't let me hold you up."

Frederick saluted, "as you say milord."

He touched his heels to his steed's flanks and set off.

Chrom tried to suppress a tired sigh as he headed towards the tent that served as the medical ward. Libra, Maribelle, Anna, and his little sister Lissa were already inside and starting to take care of the minor injuries of the few Shepherds who had been hurt in the battle. He carried Gaius to the furthest bunk at the back of the tent, separated by a thin curtain for privacy, and lay him down on the cot.

He was sick of his soldiers and friends getting injured. He had seen quite enough of that during the Plegian war. He was sick of the Risens. His men were like his family and although he knew what they did was necessary, it did not help to ease the hardships.

He sat down near the thief's cot. Gaius almost looked innocent when he was asleep. That ridiculous thought elicited a scoffing derisive chuckle from Chrom. As much as he hated to admit it, the irrepressible thief was probably going to be out of it for a while.

Chrom's attention fell upon the bandaged forearm that lay across Gaius's chest, rising and falling with his steady breaths. What was he hiding and how did Robin know? Also, what was with him a Maribelle? He remembered that, aside from Frederick, she had always been the most reluctant to get close to him. What if… Chrom shrugged the thought away and rose to his feet. He had a lot to do and he was going to have to add, 'get ready to move out in a day or two.' to the list because there was no doubt in his mind that they had overstayed their welcome in these woods- to say nothing of the fact that they were on a tight schedule.

"If you can hear me Gaius, I would like to thank you again." He said softly, feeling slightly foolish that he was taking to a person who probably could not hear him. "I know that there are some things in your past that you are either ashamed of or wish to conceal, but I would tell you I trust you regardless. I don't care who you were but rather only who you are now. I am honored to call you a Shepherd and a friend."

"Oh yeah?" the voice was weak but unmistakably that of the thief.

Chrom looked up to see the bright green- hazel eyes and familiar smirk.

"Yeah." Chrom affirmed with a smile of his own.

"I wanted to apologize,"

Chrom turned, slightly startled at the sound of an unexpected voice to see Frederick step forward with Robin not far behind. "I questioned you loyalty and honor and ended up sullying my own- honor that is. It's just when you didn't show up and you snuck out of camp last night I assumed…." He trailed.

Gaius looked mildly surprised, "Don't beat yourself up, Starchy. If it makes you feel better I can easily understand, I doubt myself sometimes," he teased softly.

"No, that doesn't make me feel better," Frederick said with a frown.

"Then you can give me your desert to make up for it."

Chrom and Robin chuckled and even Frederick smiled.

"By the way," Frederick added, "How did you know not to come to the rally? How did you know not to join us in our wild goose chase? Was it like a sixth sense? A premonition? A gut feeling? A prophetic dream or some such thing?"

"I suppose you could say it was something like that," the thief said with a slight air of pride.

"Really?" Chrom and Frederick asked impressed.

"I know you Gaius, what really happened?" Robin asked shooting the thief a glare.

"Ripped my pocket on a tree branch and dropped my hidden stash of candy. Anything sweet is hard to come by during war time," he said slightly defensively in response to their raised eyebrows. "I had to save them. By the time I did, I heard fighting up ahead, saw Blue surrounded by and entire army of Risen alone, knew he would be a goner if something didn't happen soon, saw a way to help and went for it."

"I suppose I should thank your sweet tooth for getting the better of you and your knack for hoarding sugar, otherwise you would have gone with everyone else and 'I would be…" he drifted off, not wishing to verbalize what everyone else knew. He turned towards Argon. "Did you need me for something?" he asked, noting her expression.

"Yes, I just received some envoys on allied troop movements and several dispatches for you." She proffered forth a hand filled with sealed documents. Chrom tried to keep himself from making a face as he excused himself. He and Robin made as if to leave, but Robin halted before she made it out of the flimsy fabric walled room and headed over to the thief. She pulled a piece of candy out from her sleeve and placed it in his hand while wishing him a fast recovery, before she turned to go.

Gaius smiled before his expression sobered and he placed the treat inside one of his numerous pockets. "Wait, Bubbles," Robin turned back around. "Thank you for… for…well, you know," his voice trailed off and he ducked his head a splash of color slightly changing the pale pallor of his cheeks as he gingerly rubbed his bandaged left arm.

Robinsmiled, "You welcome, and besides if I hadn't you would not be the only one humiliated."

"Perhaps," was the soft reply.

Robin chuckled and left the tent with a very suspicious Chrom.

When they had departed, Frederic turned to the exhausted thief. "I have one last question for you,"

When Gaius posed no objection, the knight pressed onwards.

"If you weren't spying for the enemy, then, what were you doing sneaking out of camp?"

Gaius fixed Frederick with his usual self-assured crooked grin. It was an expression that never ceased to get on Frederick's nerves. His annoyance this time, however, was greatly tempered by his curiosity.

"I heard you and Chrom discussing our army's failing funds several nights ago."

Frederick glared at Gaius.

"That was a private conversation, how did you-"

"In my defense it was a pretty loud private conversation, and we happen to live in tents. Fabric is not very soundproof. Also, I was there for other reasons then spying."

"Pilfering someone's pie most likely."

Gaius let out a chuckle that ended in a grimace, as his still tender arrow wound was racked with pain from his sudden movement.

After a couple steadying breaths he continued. "Regardless how I found out-" he grunted softly as he shifted position. "The point is I decided that there was a better way for us to get funds. That is to say, borrow them from our enemies. Valm soldiers and brigands are surprisingly rich, even Risen have some articles of value. You'll find the money you need under the cot in my tent."

Frederick stood dumbfounded for a moment before a pleased smile etched its way across his features. "That's a stroke of genius Gaius, depleting our enemies rescores while strengthening our own. Granted, it is completely dishonorable and I don't know what Chrom would think about it, but still…"

"I have a few more ideas on how to get funds if you are interested."

"I might be…How much money did you steal?" when Frederick received his answer he could hardly bring himself to speak.

"Is it enough?" Gaius muttered tiredly.

"More than enough," Frederick grinned. A well needed trip to the nearby market was definitely in order. A rather un-knightly malicious gleam entered Frederick eyes. He knew exactly what he would do with the extra money and it would be extremely useful to the army. He was about to get some friendly revenge on his commander for several barbs he had been hit with recently, and could not think up a decent retort to in good enough time for it to count.

"I'm not sure I like that look," Gaius mumbled with a half frown as he settled himself back against his pillow and closed his eyes. "Whatever you're planning I want no part in it."

**~x~X~x~**

Chrom groaned and rubbed his eyes as he rose from the crude, hard as a rock- and exceedingly likely to give one a splinter- chair that he had the great misfortune of calling his own. He hesitated for a moment and, once he was sure that no one was watching, he quickly rubbed out the stiff soreness that his hated perch had caused the muscles of his posterior to endure.

He glared at the dispatches, envoys, figures, treaties, and route marches that littered his folding desk and groaned again. He was absolutely positive that he would go blind if he stared at those despicable papers for any longer. He needed some fresh air and a break. Four hours of council meetings and paperwork would be enough to kill any Risen instantly. He had no idea how all the parchments, tactical plans, inventory lists, and finances could be just as mentally and physically taxing as a pitched battle, but the fact remained that they were.

Rubbing his temples, he slowly moved his stiff body towards the opening of his tent and stepped outside. He had about two hours to himself, so he headed over to the spot near the middle of the camp that was designated for training. The space was empty aside from Donnel, the youngest member of their army. He was hardly more than a boy, but he had joined them when his village had been attacked by bandits. He had been a farmer all his life and was still perfecting the darker arts of warriors.

After giving the young man a greeting and giving him a tip for being more successful with the spear he was practicing with, Chrom went to work. He cleared his mind of his many problems and dedicated the next thirty minutes of his time to bringing about the unfortunate demise of the poor innocent training dummies and any other obstacle foolish enough to stand in his way, as he honed the edge of his swordsmanship to a fine point. He knocked down the last insolent wooden and straw warrior with a flying kick. Then he leaped into the air with a battle cry, intent upon decapitating the dummy who had, up until that very moment, so rudely eluded the reach of his blade.

He was halted mid-jump by the sound of Frederick shouting his name. He checked his downward plunge and amended his previous thought. No, unless his name was 'milord,' his knight had called him by his title rather than by name. Never the less, he turned around with a smile, his training session having slightly improved his mood.

"Since we will be moving out in a day or so, I thought we had best take a trip to the town, about an hour's match to the south, to pick up any supplies we need before we set out. If we continue southwest like you proposed at our meeting, there won't be another chance for quite a while."

Chrom winced when he thought of his army's badly depleted funds, but he knew there was nothing for it. Frederick was right, it had to be done. He thought about giving Fredrick leave, when he stopped himself. He rather liked the idea of postponing his break under the guise of duty.

"Quite right, I will head a small party and leave at once."

Frederick frowned slightly but did not pose any objection.

"Pick an away team and prepare the rest of the troops for our absence, we can eat lunch on the way."

Frederick saluted and set off.

About three hours later Chrom, Argon, Lon'qu, and Olivia made their way with the supplies out of the small town and towards the slanting hill of the edge of the valley the village was nestled in. They halted there to wait for Frederick, who was supposed to meet them there as soon as he finished with his errand. There was no sign of the first knight. Chrom and the two girls set aside their packs and seated themselves upon some rocks to wait. Lon'qu remained standing, as grim faced as ever. Chrom tapped his foot impatiently on the grassy ground as they waited, and Olivia, feeling bored, got up to wander the valley fields.

"What's taking Frederick so long?" Chrom wondered aloud as the sun eked further away from its perch in the center of the mid-day sky.

"Perhaps he is sampling bear jerky," Robin said with a teasing smile.

Chrom let out a chuckle at the thought, and even Lon'qu's mouth twitched slightly up at the corners. It was no great secret that Frederick absolutely despised bear.

All three turned sharply around at the sound of Olivia's shout. She was usually extremely shy and quiet and if she was yelling then that meant something was seriously amiss.

"Chrom!" she shouted, running towards him through the tall grass of the valley, her hair whipping around her in the noon-time breeze. "Chrom, up ahead and around the curve of the valley I saw a bunch of brigands dragging along six maidens from a burning farm house. They were going to… to…" Olivia trailed off her cheeks flushing, her eyes wide with worried determination sympathy, and horror. "We have to save them!"

"Let's go!" Chrom leaped to his feet. He knew Olivia was especially sensitive to something like this because, he had just learned from her, when she finally felt at ease talking to him, that she had nearly gone through the same thing herself. "How many are there?"

"A-about twenty," she stammered in a whisper.

Chrom felt his eyebrows rise, saw Robin wince, and Lon'qu nearly choke in surprise.

"There are only four of us," Chrom said softly, "and if we go back for reinforcements it will be too late.

"Umm…." Olviva flushed deeper when all three pairs of eyes turned to her. "I-I was thinking that there might be a way to sort of take them back without fighting them. Like when Gaius stole most of the men's deserts when they were distracted by arguing over who the prettiest girl in camp was."

Chrom winced at the memory; of course he remembered- he had been looking forward to eating that rice pudding.

"You mean like a diversion?" he said aloud, looking towards Argon.

Robin furrowed her brow as she thought.

"Please," Olivia whispered, "the thought of anyone going through that…" she stopped speaking, her cheeks flaming with humiliation and nerves.

"If Chrom agrees, I think I have a strategy, but it will require a lot from you. How would you feel about dancing for about twenty manner-less brigands?"

"Not good," she said softly, her voice squeaking slightly.

~x~X~x~

Chrom studied the backs of the brigands with a critical eye, deciding when would be the best moment to sneak forwards and untie the six maidens from the two trees they were tied to. The bandits had secured themselves in the tree lined high-ground edge of the side of the valley. At the moment, all twenty one of them were staring down from the shadow of the woods like so many leering vultures. Drifting up from the open valley below, rang the beautiful eerie riveting lilt of Olivia's voice as she sang. All of the brigands' eyes were fixed upon the enticing silk clad figure of the dancer as she twirled through the sunlit clearing.

Chrom had no idea how Olivia did it, but when she danced and sang her movements had an almost mesmerizing effect. He had used her skills before to distract enemies long enough for him to move his troops into more favorable fighting positions, not to mention raise his own troops' moral. That aside, she was really outdoing herself this time. It was still dangerous though as Chrom had no idea how long her induced trance would last. Robin lay in wait hidden in the long grass beside her in case the dancer needed to be defended or make a quick escape.

Deeming that the time to be right, he crept slowly forward towards the tree with Lon'qu at his back. The Myrmidon stopped about twenty paces from the imprisoned girls' trees to play the part of rear guard.

When Chrom reached the first four maidens, he cut them free with a silent slash of his sword. Quietly, he directed them towards the dried ravine bed directly behind Lon'qu. It had been the way they had been able to get so close unseen and he intended for them all to escape that way. The girls signaled their understanding and hurried off. Chrom was half way to the other tree, when the bandit leader broke free from his mesmerized awe and his beady cold eyes set deep inside a lumpy roughly shaven face settled upon him. The man's bulbous lips broke into a wide malicious grin.

"Well I'll be damned! If it isn't the new exalt of Ylisse himself. If I had known you were coming I would have prepared a feast," he mocked. "So it seems you'd wanted to rob me of my spoils. That's very rude."

Chrom held his sword high in a challenging salute and glared at the man.

"Release the ladies," was all he said.

"For an exalt you don't seem to be very high on manners." The raggedly clad leader sneered. "But seen' as you're a grand high noble I think I'll cut you a deal. You see I have twenty men at my disposal and you only seem to be having yourself that there cowering swordsman," he gestured an Lon'qu, "and that there pretty dancing maid yonder. We could easily defeat you in a fight which is a bit of a pity, 'cause I very much wanted you alive; you worth more to me that way. I could ask you to trade your life for theirs …"

Chrom snorted.

"But I have a better plan." The ruffian continued. "Why don't we have a duel? If you win you get the girls, if I win I get the girls and you. What do you say?"

"Deal," Chrom said without hesitation. "Ready your blade."

Chrom knew he could easily defeat this man. Although he seemed to be a mite smarter that the average brigand. He had taken note of his posture, bearing, and condition of his weapon, and was not impressed. He was slightly suspicious that the man had some trick or other up his sleeve otherwise he would not have been so bold as to ask for a duel. He would have ordered his men to attack straight off, exalt or no, but Chrom was willing to take the chance.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Thank you all for reading, and a special thank you to those who favorite and reviewed- it means a lot. Feedback is appreciated. Another note is that I wrote this whist sick so I really apologies for mistakes, When I feel better I will run though it again and fix them. Sorry for the inconvenience. Next chapter should be up in a week :D


	3. Afternoon- A Leader of Men

**Afternoon- A Leader of Men**

"Hold!" the brigand said with a frown, "Both you and I are captains and leaders, and no good would come of us fighting. Also if I am loathed to kill you, as I have already said, it would give you quite the unfair advantage. Chose yourself a champion and I'll choose a champion. Why not yonder swordsman?"

Chrom had expected some form of trickery, but he was puzzled all the same. This brigand was either taking Lon'qu for an inexperienced fool- which was odd, despite that fact he had already called him a coward. Any warrior could tell by the myrmidon's stance, posture and grip on his blade that he was well acquainted with his art and was confident of that fact. Or, perhaps bandit was merely overly confident in the abilities of his own champion.

Chrom decided upon the second when the ruffians' champion stepped forward. He was a giant of a man with enormous muscles, wielding a massive double headed battle axe as easily as if it were weightless. Chrom stepped a few paces backwards to talk to Lon'qu, who met him in half way.

"I won't order you to do this Lon'qu, but…" he trailed.

Chrom knew that this was possibly the only way to buy themselves some time but he would never order someone into something like this even though Lon'qu had served as Khan Basilio's duelist once.

"I do not see that we have much choice in the matter," Lon'qu said curtly closing his eyes for a moment as he gathered himself. He gave Chrom a slight nod as he stepped forward into the half ring of men where his challenger stood.

"Excellent!" the brigand leader called. He ordered his men to stand back as his champion and Lon'qu began to circle each other.

Chrom glanced down at the valley below to see Robin, Olivia, and, surprisingly, Frederick heading up the valley's hilly slope unhindered by the distraction of the duelists. Chrom silently willed them to move faster.

His eyes flashed back to the duel as the giant axe-man made the first move. He swung at his smaller opponent with a vicious swipe, intending to take his challenger's head of at the shoulders. The swing was fast but not as fast as the myrmidon swordsman.

Lon'qu ducked the blow and leaped swiftly to the side and forward, delivering a flashing fast cut with his killing edge to the massive man's unarmored side. He then back flipped out of range of the man's next furious downward stroke, a second before it struck.

The bandits gasped as the axe-wielding duelist let out a howl of rage and pain and dashed forward. He drove his axe downward with all his force behind it. A huge clang, like the toll of a broken iron bell, rang out as Lon'qu caught the blow with his sword. Chrom winced at the force behind the swipe as sword and axe were trapped in a grind. Lon'qu did not so much a buckle under the strike. The strangled grunt, slightly shaking muscles, clenched teeth, and sweat beaded brow, were the only indications of the strain of holding back the giant.

Chrom felt his stomach drop and gritted his teeth, dashing forward to come to the aid of his friend as he saw Lon'qu's blade slip and the axe begin to fall- only to stop himself when he realized that Lon'qu had done it on purpose in order to hook his blade into the curve between the axe head and shaft.

Surprised that his weapon had stopped again, the giant bandit's grip loosened enough for Lon'qu to wrench it out of his massive hands. The axe spun through the air and landed behind and to the side of the swordsman. One of its two deadly heads was buried in the dirt, the other stuck in the air, gleaming as a slanting ray of sunlight penetrated the thick leafy forest canopy overhead. In two swift movements the myrmidon placed himself in front of the fallen weapon. With a roar, the bandit drew a huge sword from his belt and lunged forward.

Chrom saw the calculating look in Lon'qu's dark slate brown eyes, but he was still startled when the swordsman lunged forward rather than take the customary step back to evade the deadly strike. He lunged forward then downwards in a roll. He smashed into the huge bandit's legs, right when he was slightly off balance from his massive lunge. The great man fell forwards as Lon'qu twisted and leaped neatly to the side.

Chrom looked away as the man plummeted towards the upturned blade of his massive axe. The battle had taken place in the time it took the others to run up the hill. It was then, when the bandits were most ill at ease that Argon, Olivia, and a mounted Frederick charged into the woods. The bandits had obviously put a lot of stock in their champion for, when he was defeated so easily and there appeared several more of Chrom's warriors, who were likely just as skilled, their nerve shattered and they fled.

"Mliord!" Frederick said with a frown, and Chrom could tell by the hard look in the knight's eyes that he was about to hear Frederick's latest lecture on reckless behavior. He was however, cut short by a gleeful squeal as Olivia released the last two maids. As if on cue, the other four burst from hiding and, as if all of one mind, they flew towards Lon'qu.

His horrified cry of, "Stay back!" was lost in their cries of gratitude and affirmations of his bravery as they threw themselves upon him in a hugging display of affection. Several of them were brazen enough to smother him with thankful kisses and Lon'qu disappeared underneath them with a yelp of horror and anger as he hit the ground.

As soon as he fell Chrom found himself similarly attacked and then Frederick. While Frederick was being fawned over, Chrom turned a worried eye to where Olivia and Robin were standing over a very white faced Lon'qu.

"Breathe, Lon'qu, breathe," Robin urged in the same manner he often urged her during a battle before an attack.

Lon'qu gasped and closed his eyes. Someone who did not know the swordsman might say that he was sexist, but Chrom knew that his awkwardness around women sprang from as sort of fear not revulsion. Fear? No, that was probably not quite the right word. It was perhaps fear of a kind, but he could tell it went much deeper than that.

Even with that knowledge Chrom was startled to see a fleeting almost vulnerable look enter those cool slate eyes. Chrom winced. Obviously something in his past had cut him deeply and the wounds were still fresh. It had something to do with women? He had absolutely no idea what it could have possibly been for Lon'qu was very tight lipped. The slight trace of sensitivity was gone as soon as the warrior blinked. It had been so fleeting that the commander began to wonder if he had really seen it. Chrom studiously pretended he had not noticed anything as the shaken swordsman rose to his feet.

"I-I'm… so sorry Lon'qu. I was… was the one who cut them loose. I …oh…"Olivia looked down, her cheeks still flushed.

"You could not to have known," Lon'qu replied, his stiff sturdy, apparently immovable posture returning as he stepped away from Robin and Olivia. He shot a glare at the fawning maidens.

Chrom switched his gaze towards Frederick who was skillfully acting the part of gallant knight. On second thought, perhaps acting was not the best way to describe it.

Once they escorted the maidens safely back, they began the onerous return walk to camp with the supplies. They were three quarters of the way back when they stopped for a brief rest and to water Frederick's charger, who had the rather degrading honor of being temporarily demoted to pack horse.

While they rested, Chrom could not help but stare in puzzlement at Lon'qu in an attempt to figure him out. The Myrmidon was currently leaning back against a tree, arms crossed in front of him and eyes closed. Despite his apparent nonchalance, he gave the impression of alertness. His body always seemed very tense, no matter how comfortable he appeared. As he watched, the swordsman suddenly twitched slightly, his head cocking to the left his arms uncrossing and his hand instinctively reaching for the hilt of his killing edge.

"Someone's coming," he said, opening his eyes.

The others jolted, as surprised as Chrom. Apparently they, like he, had not heard anything.

"Perhaps those bandits are back for revenge," Frederick suggested, reaching for his lance.

Chrom, Robin, and Olivia began to reach for their own weapons, only to stop when they saw Libra and Miriel heading towards them at a rapid pace.

The war monk's fair elven face was creased with worry and even the normally stone faced Miriel was looking disturbed. Chrom stepped forward to meet them.

"Captain," the monk said with a half bow. "While on the patrol of the southern boundaries of the woods Miriel and I spotted a plegian messenger hawk. The monk handed him a rolled piece of paper. Out of habit Miriel apprehended it and when we read the contents of the message we knew we had to come to you right away. Apparently, there is a group of brigands near the Plegian border, and perhaps even inside it, who are striving for the death of your sister, in short, an assassination plot. It appears that the rumors you have been hearing are in fact correct."

Chrom felt all the color drain from his face. First, he had nearly been led to his death by a nefarious look alike and now the rumors of a planned attempt on his sister's life seemed to have been proven true. He and Robin went a little ahead to be filled in on the rest of the details for the rest of the short walk back to camp.

As soon as he reached their temporary home, he let Robin and Frederick deal with the supplies. Even though his mind knew that Lissa was safe for the moment, he could not shake his concern at the news of another plot against another of his sisters. A deep pain throbbed inside his heart at the thought of the word sister. How could so much love and so much agony be wrapped up in a single word.

"Where is Lissa?" he directed his worried query to the monk at his side.

"In the healing tent," Libra replied. "I will keep both of you in my prayers," he added softly.

Chrom half turned, "Thank you Libra," he said in a matching tone.

"The gods will be watchful."

Miriel shot the monk a sidelong glance of disapproval. "To make such an erroneous statement would be to commit a logical fallacy. Truth knowledge and logic are the only things of true import."

"And yet without morals, is not logic on its own the leading force in many a deed of disdain. Even the monsters of this world have the ability to, and often do use logic. What sets us apart from out foes is our principles and morals. Knowledge without wisdom is useless." The monk retorted in his usual calm manner.

Chrom hurried of towards the healing tent. Philosophical discussions between those two could go on for quite some time.

Chrom pushed open the course oiled canvas that made up the flaps of the healers' quarters, and stepped inside. He headed straight towards the back- not even stopping to talk to the few soldiers who were still recovering from that morning's skirmish, as was his usual custom.

He slipped past the last curtain of separating fabric to the small area where Lissa sat near a sleeping Gaius. She was frowning, her tongue protruding slightly from the corner of her mouth as she focused hard on the embroidery in her slender hands.

"Chrom!" she fixed him with her usual bright smile, although this time it was tempered by the appearance of worry in her green eyes.

Seized by the grip of an affectionate impulse, Chrom pulled his little sister into a hug. She put down her needle work to return the embrace, the feathery blond hair of her pigtails tickling his nose.

"Is something wrong?" she asked in the perceptive way of hers.

Chrom sighed, she needed to know. He nodded and began to explain about the assassination plot.

Lissa let out her breath softly, the dismay obvious on her face.

"Today just seems to be miserable news all around." She glanced at her needle work and then at Gaius.

Chrom followed the line of her gaze and for the first time took in the condition of the thief. His brow was beaded with sweat and he writhed almost feverishly every now and then. Chrom reached for his hand and was surprised to find it so cold. At his touch Gaius opened his hazel eyes to look at him. It seemed as if he were having trouble actually seeing them as if he were dizzy. Chrom felt his stomach drop at the sight.

"What's wrong? Was the arrow poisoned?"

"No, Mirabelle and I think it is just from losing so much blood. Some people can take it better than others. Unfortunately, that being the case, there is really nothing that I can do to help him exactly. He will just have to get though it on his own."

"I see," Chrom said unhappily.

The fact that the only reason the thief was in this hurt had been because of his efforts to save his life did not make Chrom feel any better. He whispered a soft apology before letting go of Gaius's hand.

"So what are you going to do about the assassination attempt?" Lissa asked as Chrom stepped back.

"I suppose I will have to find you a bodyguard. I was thinking Frederick, but he has so much on his plate with everything else that he does."

Lissa nodded with a frown. Chrom knew that she hated feeling like a burden or helpless.

"Don't worry, I promise I will figure something out soon."

It could not be himself or Robin for they were just as busy as Frederick, perhaps a mage? Vaike? He shuddered at the thought of his sister being guarded by any of the teenage men of his troop for obvious reasons. Gregor? Perhaps Sully or Cordelia?"

"I am sure you will figure it out. " Lissa said.

Chrom was about to leave when he caught sight of his sister's handiwork.

"I like your needlework," he complimented.

Needless to say, it was a huge improvement on the shapeless blobs she usually sewed.

"Gaius has been teaching me," she admitted sadly.

"Gaius sews?" Chrom asked surprised.

"He can do quite a lot actually," Lissa smiled then gave an apprehensive sidelong look at the thief as he shifted in his cot with a muted groan.

"I suppose I had better get going," Chrom whispered "There is a lot I must see too. Please send word if he improves, or Naga forbid, gets worse."

Lissa nodded.

~x~X~x~

Chrom sat down in his painful excuse for a folding chair and sighed, holding his head in his hands. Dinner was going to be late. That was something he had found out when a furious Cordelia had chased a hapless Stahl out of the kitchen tent, and cooking area, brandishing a ladle as skillfully as she wielded a pike.

She had yelled something along the lines of how Stahl seemed to care more for food than everyone in camp and how she did not want to see his grubby bed-headed face again, at least, not until she rang the dinner bell. It was her turn to cook the meal and Gaius had promised to help her, and since he could not, all the work of cooking and that of her other tasks fell only to her. Apparently, that was distracting enough without Stahl continuously trying to snitch snacks.

She had been so stressed that, when Lon'qu had tensely asked if she still wanted to train with him after dinner, she had said yes but shortly after muttered in frustration about all the chores that still needed attending. She then flamed red and began stuttering as soon as she had seen Chrom standing there.

He had no idea why he had that sort of effect on her. Tangent aside, he hated to see her so upset and had ordered her to take a cool down walk before she started dinner. He would have offered to help her, except he had so much that he needed to attend to himself. Instead, he had recruited Gregor to help her out.

Then, on his way to his own tent, what had he seen? Vaike and Virion peeking gleefully through a rip in what happened to be the woman's bathing tent. Vaike had been murmuring something along the lines of "Vaike likes."

Chrom had put an immediate stop to the highly un-chivalrous behavior. Sully, who happened to be the woman their disrespectful eyes had peeped upon, was probably still chasing the unfortunate miscreants about camp. Chrom did not envy the two young men one bit.

He had then had to ask young Donnel and Ricken, who were messing about not far off, and happened to be the only other people nearby, to find Robin and tell her to move the woman's bathing tent to another location until the hole in the old one was mended.

All of this however, was just the base of the problem. What had happened next had been what Gaius would have termed, 'the icing on the cake.' Just before he had reached his quarters, he had run into Sumia.

He placed his head in his hands with a long drawn out sigh. He wanted to hit his head repeatedly against a pole. He had no idea how his tongue kept incessantly getting him into trouble; how he never failed to corner himself with his words because he had either said too much or the wrong thing. He had, to his shame, done nearly the very same thing to both Olivia and Robin before.

Sumia had been trying to offer comfort or friendship by the way of idle prattle and, although he had not exactly planned it that way, he had found his mind wandering from her pleasant observations to the myriad of pressing concerns that swarmed through his troubled thoughts like a herd of angry wyvern riders.

He had been absentmindedly nodding at her. When she has asked a question, he had murmured a distracted "yes," only to be snapped out of his troubled musings when Sumia had scathingly pointed out that he had just said, "yes," he was grateful that Gaius had been shot instead of him and "yes," he wanted more Risen attacks. She had then demanded to know if he had even been listening at all. To which he had been forced to truthfully respond in the negative.

It would have been painfully obvious had he lied and he had never been much for deception anyway. It was however, after his shamefaced confession, that he had made his painful slip. When she had started to act hurt at his lack of attention and interest, in not so many words, he had basically said that it was nothing against her personally, it was that he had more important things on his mind.

It came out before he could stop it. The look on her face had made him feel terrible. He had definitely deserved that slap that had followed his calloused remark. Of all the things to say to his wife this had to be the worst. It also happened to be their first official fight and he knew that it was all his fault. He had done a fine job of playing the fool. Beautiful, sweet Sumia… he needed that pole that he thought about earlier, so he could leave several perfect impressions of his face upon it.

Lissa's life was in danger, his wife was mad at him, Gaius was sick, Cordelia was stressed, most of his shepherds were keeping secrets from him, hiding hurts, arguing, behaving dishonorably. His army funds were failing, and he had just received a report that Nowi in dragon form had accidentally crushed and incinerated several tents. Menerva had bitten one of the new recruits when he had disrespected Cherche. Panne was having trouble, for there was not much in this near Plegian desert mountain forest that she could eat. Not to mention that he had nearly been assassinated that very morning.

He wanted to know exactly how many problems could be compressed into a single day. Chrom for the most part, knew himself to be basically a too young leader of an army of overemotional, over-hormonal teenagers with issues and odd quirks that sprang from painful pasts or events. He could not think of a single member of his troop, the few adults included, who were not trying to hide or strive though old hurts and scars, trials or loss. Most of his men did not even have families. None of them had ever had life handed to them on a silver platter. The bonds they had were formed from desperation hardship and pain. How Emmeryn had handled things like this with such apparent ease he did not know. Chrom wondered; thinking back to his gentle older sister. She had always been so wise, understanding and forgiving. She had ruled her people with such grace that it gave the facade of ease.

His sister; Chrom felt his throat tighten as he thought of her. Silently, he reached into the gear pouch at his belt. He retracted a small cloth, on which his sister had long ago embroidered a near perfect rendition of the brand of the exalt. He clenched his trembling jaw as he clutched the soft silken fabric, the feathery silk reminding him of his sister's touch. She had been the paradigm example of what a values a ruler should embody.

His sister, uniting their people, who had been torn by hatred and mistrust by his forefathers mistakes with her understanding selflessness. She had always been the guiding light of his trouble storm filled life. He could still hear her light airy voice, see her beautiful green eyes. She had left a legacy almost too great for anyone else to fill and, in the end, she had died for him and for all the people of Ylisse. He loved her so much, and even then had failed to save her. The hardest he could fight and fastest he could run had not been enough. He had failed to protect her. He smiled sadly, trying to ignore the small trace of moisture on his cheek.

"I'm tying my best for you Emm," he whispered. "Gods, this would be so much easier were you still here. But then, you always said that nothing worth fighting for in this world would ever be easy. I…I hope that wherever you are, you are proud of us, of me, and Lissa, as proud as I was to be your brother."

Did the pain of loss truly ever vanish? It was a painful sadness, yet a sadness that was mingled with joy, love, and pride, left behind with the memories and lives she had touched. She had lived with honor and she had died with honor. In kind, for all of this, he would forever honor her sacrifice.

He heard the tramp of armored feet outside his tent and recognized the familiar gait of Frederick. It was strange how one could recognize the sound of a well-known friend's steps as easily as the sound of their voice. He tried to quickly wipe away all traces of his moment of weakness, and silently cursed himself for allowing himself to slip so far. If he were to honor his sister's memory, his people, and his men, he needed to be strong and follow her example of putting the people first. His men needed a strong commander, not a weeping wreck. His first knight had enough to deal with without having this added. He could tell by the angle of light though the canvas of his tent that it was time for Fredericks evening report.

Chrom replaced the scrap of cloth, straitened his tunic and stood. He called for Frederick to enter as soon as the knight knocked on the post outside his tent front. He had often suspected that his campaigns would fall completely apart without Frederick's diligence, even if it did sometimes dane to border on excessiveness.

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><p><strong>AN:** Thank you all for reading! Feedback is very appreciated. So, I've been trying to cover a variety of moods and feelings in this tale, and both I and Chrom have had enough of the more serious emotions, next week things will start looking up for the poor commander so you can expect some humor. Thanks to all who read, favorited, followed, and reviewed; it means a lot. I wish you all the best until next time!


	4. Evening- Chrom Wants You

**Evening- "Chrom Wants You"**

**A/N:** Hi everyone! This chapter will have a few direct quotes from the game so all credits to the original writers there. The tone this chapter will be a little lighter than the past three, as Chrom will finally be able to start working through tings. Also I have realized the inconsistency with Robin's name in the past two chapters and fixed it. I'm really sorry about that. I hope you all enjoy the chapter!

**Ethereal780:** Thank you so much for you review; it really brightened my day to read. Yeah, I think that such hardships would wear on anyone, especially if they were in such a position of responsibility. Thanks for the compliment btw. :)

**Lilac Gemani:** Thank you for your review on chapter two! What Frederick has planned will be revealed this chapter so you don't have any longer to wait.

**A Shadow's Lament:** Thanks for the review on chapter two! Sorry about the shortness of the chapter and the bit of a cliffhanger XD Thanks for the well wish also; I'm finally getting over the nasty flu bug I caught, and am happy to have my head start to feel clearer (it makes it easier to write) XD

**Yami no Nokutan:** Thanks for your review of chapter one. I'm glad you think it interesting. It's the slowly becoming a fan of a character that's the worst, because it just sneaks up and grabs you XD He probably deserves some pity XD

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><p><strong>Evening- "Chrom Wants You"<strong>

Chrom felt all the color drain from his face before it flamed what he suspected would be a dark shade of red, with humiliation. He felt his eyes go wide with horror and, for several moments, he could hardly bring himself to speak: such was the culmination of horror, anger, shock, and embarrassment that roiled inside of him. Steeling himself, he opened his mouth and nothing came out. He swallowed and tried again.

"Wait. You did what?! In whose… you hung these pict… in EVERYONE'S tent?"

Frederick stood straighter and shot Chrom a modest self-satisfied grin.

"No need for thanks milord. Merely doing my duty, and that concludes my report. Rest well sire!" With that last cheery farewell, his head knight turned on his heel and began to take his leave.

"Frederick! Wait! We really need to… talk." Chrom said the last word quietly to himself as it was already too late to stop the knight. He was gone.

Rest well? That truly was the perfect example of an irony. How in Naga's name was he supposed to relax when Frederick had just placed recruiting posters of him depicted naked- save for a sword in one hand and a scale in the other- in the tents of every single one of his men. The recruiting motto on the bottom, however, was the capstone to a fortress wall. The motto itself, "Chrom wants you," would not, he supposed, be so terribly bad on its own; but to have it placed underneath a picture of him nude was insufferable.

He shuddered to think of the suggestive innuendos that the poster would provoke if seen- and him being a married man. It was almost too horrible to think about. If Sumia were to see that… if anyone were to see that he would be mortified beyond all reason. Sure, that poster might illicit some recruits but they would most assuredly be recruits of a rather disreputable nature. He wondered if Frederick had even stopped to think of the far reaching consequences his overachieving attempt at _help_ could cause.

"Oh, gods," he muttered to himself. "I've got to tear those posters down before anyone sees them!"

There was only one thing that gave him a modicum of hope- that was that the Shepherds did not usually spend their free time in their tents, especially not when it was rather warm outside- as it was here, near the Pegian deserts. Even the foothills of the mountains on the borders could get uncomfortably warm during the day.

It stood to reason then that maybe the majority of his troop had not yet seen his latest disgrace. At least, he prayed it were so. Also, he had recently heard the dinner bell, so he would be unlikely to be spotted when he set himself to the task of desperately tearing every single one of those deplorable paintings to shreds.

He wished he had not allowed Frederick to go out on his little errand earlier that day. To think that it was probably this that had taken him so long in the town. Frederick had often overstepped his duties as knight, but this time he had gone too far.

Chrom hastened out of his tent and gave a quick glance towards where all the Shepherds were currently congregating. His stomach protested slightly with hunger but, thanks to Frederick, he had much greater problems than this to contend with. His blood turned cold at the sight of all the tents that spread out before him, appearing to be just as daunting as an army of foes. He gave a quick prayer for speed as he hurried off. He needed this extra problem like a sword in the gut. How in Ylisse had Frederick even found the time to hang all of them along with his other numerous duties?

**~x~X~x~**

Robin dug her spoon into her bowl of stew and blew gently upon the hot liquid before placing it gingerly into her mouth. Considering Cordelia's mood and how stressed she had been before she had begun to prepare their meal, Robin had half expected a burned and tasteless dinner. She was pleasantly surprised when a flavorful tang of foreign spices assailed her tongue. It was very unlike Cordelia's usual cooking. Though slightly similar to the food of Ferox, it had pleasant warmth to the seasoning that the Feroxian fare often lacked. She could not however place its origins. Shrugging, she dug her spoon in again and took a quick glance at the formally flustered Pegasus knight. She seemed much more cordial and calm, much more like normal.

Robin absentmindedly placed the full spoon back in her mouth as she watched the feasting Shepherds from her position on the far edge of the cooking fire and what the Shepherds had made their outdoor dining hall, furthest away from the bustle. She frowned slightly. Chrom was nowhere in sight and he was not usually one to miss a meal.

She shifted her line of sight when a rapid motion was registered in the corner of her eye. She stared at the six rows of tents that were outlined by the light of the setting sun. It made it so that one could almost see the shadows of belongings and portable furniture inside them. Her eye focused on the fleeting motion and saw the navy and gold army uniform and billowing white half cape of Chrom as he ran from tent to tent. He went inside each one only to dash right back out again. His bearing was tense and his facial expression was disturbed.

She watched him completely puzzled for a while and noted his pattern. There was a method to his madness; he was methodically, frantically, and quickly going to each tent. Judging by the direction and patterns of his movements- assuming he had started from the tents furthest back- he had entered very single tent but the four closest to where she now sat. She could see that her own tent would be second to last for him to visit if he kept up his present course of action.

Her curiosity aroused, she lay her bowl of stew aside and went to intercept her commander and find out what in Naga's name he was about. She looked back to the rest of the Shepherds and saw that no one aside from her seemed to have noticed their revered commander's odd behavior.

She tiptoed silently towards her tent and arrived just as the blue haired prince stepped inside. Intending to catch him in the act of his suspicious behavior, she stepped inside right after him.

"Chrom, what the-" she began but was interrupted by a very un-warrior like squeak.

The navy haired lord practically threw himself across the expanse of her canvas awning and placed himself nearly protectively against the back of the fabric wall as if shielding something from view with his body. The look of guilty embarrassment etched upon his handsome features made Robin chuckle.

"Whatever are you doing?" she asked with a smile "and more importantly, what are you hiding?"

"N-nothing." He stammered, trying and failing to look nonchalant in his awkward position as he leaned against the canvas wall . "What makes you think I am hiding something?"

"My goodness Chrom," Robin rolled eyes. "I swear you are as easy to read as a book when it comes to expressions."

It was extremely rare for her to see him like this. His normally fearless inspiring resolve reduced to the raw bunch of nerves he was acting the part of. To see him acting almost vulnerable and childish came off as amusing to her.

"Let me see what you're hiding," she urged playfully.

As she stepped nearer to him, she could see that his back was pressed firmly against what appeared to be a medium sized sheet of thin vellum paper.

"Oh…" he laughed in a rather forced manner. "It's really nothing just a random post… I meant paper that had… the audacity to uh, clutter your tent. So I thought I'd remove it."

As he spoke, he hooked his hands backwards under the bottom-most edge of the paper and began slowly rolling and crumpling it into a long wad inside his fisted fingers from the bottom up.

"It's nothing you should waste your time over, nothing emba- important at all." He chuckled nervously as he clutched the now free wad of paper hard behind his back. "Well if that's all, I think I'll be going."

He tried to inch away but Robin followed his movements, her cheeky smile broadening.

"What is it?" she cajoled in a purring tone of voice. "Come on you can tell me, there are no secrets between us after all," she said in a calming voice before she leaped at him, intending to catch his arm and steal the paper.

Fast as she was, he was able to match her speed for speed, and she found herself landing on empty air as he dodged.

"Civiens," she muttered as Chrom kept up his burst of speed and ran out of the tent, knocking over her small table in the process. Not to be outdone, and way beyond curious, she raced after him.

He led her a merry chase back through the camp and away from where the rest of the Shepherds were still enjoying their meal. She was grateful for his presence of mind to flee away from prying eyes. Part of her was completely embarrassed to be acting rather like a small child playing keep away or tag with her captain, of all people. The other parts of her were torn between her curiosity and determination. He had after all just presented her with an irresistible challenge. Despite the small care for how foolish she probably looked, she felt her face break into a huge grin. There was an irrepressible thrill to a chase, and it was funny to see her dignified commander behaving like an addle-minded schoolboy and funny that she was acting just as bad.

Chrom soon made it free of the tents and made a wild dash towards the thick woods to the west. She took note of the direction of his flight and extrapolated his most likely destination in order to cut him off. She suspected he was heading to the fairly shallow stream that ran by their camp about twenty yards into the surrounding woods. It was filled with icy mountain runoff water and this, added to its shallowness, was the reason the Shepherd's had been using the bathing tents instead of the stream. It was shallow but the current was very fast considering. Robin headed off at an angle weaving through the trees to Chrom's left.

She emerged near the streams' bank and saw that her prediction had indeed been correct. Chrom had stopped near the stream's edge and glanced around and behind him, his posture relaxing fractionally when he assumed he had temporarily lost her.

She watched him un-wrinkle the piece of paper. Robin slipped silently forward. She just had to know what was on it. She broke cover quickly and cornered him against the tree he had been standing in front of. He re-smashed the paper immediately and held it close to his chest, wide-eyed.

"Checkmate," she smiled "hand it over!" She knew she had trapped him fair and square. He had nowhere else to go, she had won.

Chrom, appearing completely deflated, looked as if he were about to reluctantly comply, when he suddenly flicked his arm up and shoved the tight wad of paper inside his mouth and clamped it shut, locking his jaw.

"Spit it out!" Robin demanded.

"Uh uhhmm," Chrom mumbled, shaking his head.

"Spit it out this instant!"

Chrom silently glared at her and swallowed.

Robin stared at him. "You swallowed it?!" she asked horrified.

He nodded, "Uh huh," he said slightly muffled through his still locked teeth.

"No you didn't, hand it over!"

Chrom shot his hands backwards and latched on to a bow of the tree behind him and skillfully hoisted himself up and onto the tree limb and leaped from it over her head.

Apparently her advice about always planning an escape route had been noted, she realized with a frown as she whirled to catch him again. He was heading straight for the stream. She had just reached him when he took the wad of paper out of his mouth and threw it. She grabbed at the ball and felt it rip as it was pulled from her fingers and launched into the water. She was left with a small fragment as the rest went tumbling down the stream.

"Chrom wants you," she read aloud as she unfurled the small piece she had.

He flinched and turned to face her, then relaxed once he saw that that was all she had.

"What is this?" she asked. "Why are you trying to hide it?"

"Frederick's idea of a recruiting poster."

"Did they paint you so terribly?" she asked innocently.

She knew he hated things like that. He was not one to enjoy having his image everywhere. She did not know if this trait came from humility or modesty or both, but she admired it just the same. Most rulers adored commissioning statues of themselves for themselves, and she was proud her best friend was not like that.

"Something like that," he said in answer to her question, making a face.

"You could have let me see it," she complained with an air of disappointment. "I wouldn't have laughed."

"Knowing you, you probably would have thrown something sharp and heavy at me," he muttered with a grimace,

"What was that?"

"Nothing," he grumbled.

"Did they get your outfit wrong?" she smirked.

"Or lack thereof."

"You don't mean to say that Fredrick had you painted…"

The look on his face told her it was so, and she felt herself flushing.

"I am so sorry, Chrom," she said with a wince before she added, "Yuck, I'm glad you didn't let me see it. Viewing that for myself once was one time too many. Maybe Sumia can put up with that, but-"

"Hey!" His eyebrows drew together in a protesting frown.

Their eyes met, both of their faces lock in stern expressions. Then- as if both at the same time realizing the humor of their situation, how ridiculous they must have come off as, and how childish they had behaved- their stern exteriors cracked simultaneously into broad grins and chuckles that turned into helpless laughter.

"Thank you, Chrom," Robin said with a genuine smile as she leaned in close to him, and punched him lightly on the arm.

"Thank me? For what?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at her, the broad grin still plastered on his face, his sable-blue eyes twinkling with mirth. "I went into your tent without permission, lied to you, and then goaded you into chasing with me through the woods like a pair of half-wits."

"Thank you for being you, and for being my best friend." Robin chuckled, "I remember nothing form my past, as you know, so I often feel like half a person, but you are always giving me the gift of new memories, happy ones, and I will treasure them always. Not only that, but you have given me a purpose and a family. I am honored to call you a friend."

She reached for his hand and he gave it to her gladly.

"You're welcome, but I think it should be I thanking you," he said softly. "You have made me smile and laugh when just moments before I felt more like… well."

"Don't thank me, thank, Frederick. He was the one who decided to humiliate you; I just happened to take advantage of it is all."

The two sat side by side, near the water's edge as the sun set in a burst of fiery glow that illuminated the tops of the forest pines that stretched out in a sea of dark green before them.

~x~X~x~

Chrom walked back to camp as twilight began to fall. Somehow, talking to Robin never failed to lift his spirits. He had missed dinner, he was sure, but the few moments of friendship and blissful oblivion from his problems was worth it. Not only had she given him a strategy on the best way to apologize to Sumia but she had also informed him that someone must have made a calculating error when it came to their finances. Because, when she had checked the numbers before dinner, she had found that they were more than well within budget.

At least that meant that Frederick had not wasted anything monetary wise with his 'morale bolstering' ideas, and he could take the problem of money off his frustration list. Robin had also promised to watch over Lissa until he decided on a body guard, and Chrom was sure Frederick would keep an eye out as well. Things were starting to look a little less bleak.

On his way back to his quarters, he saw Frederick, Sully, and a rather chastened and bruised looking Vaike and Virion helping to mend the tents that Nowi had accidentally destroyed and probably the woman's bathing tent as well. It even looked as if the two peeping boys had even made up slightly with Sully. He gave them all a smile that was eagerly returned.

As he walked, he heard the dinner bell again and Cordelia call for desert. Chrom was surprised. With how busy she had been acting before, he had hardly expected for her to finish dinner, let alone desert. With his stomach growling lightly, he altered his course a point to the left. What made it even more wonderful, was that desert was a rarity and usually happened only once or sometimes twice a week on a well provisioned march and even less when rations were scarce.

Once he had managed to claim himself a piece of pie, and even a bowl of left over stew, he seated himself on a log next to Cordelia. She blushed furiously and stood at attention before responding in the affirmative, when he asked politely if he could sit by her. He wanted to thank her for pulling through and for all her hard work. She did almost as much as Frederick when it came to keeping the army running smoothly. He wanted to let her know that he noticed. He wondered briefly at her reaction. She always seemed to become almost bashful around him even though he had never taken her for a shy person.

"This soup is delicious," he complemented as he took a bite, "though very different from your usual cooking. Did you have a sudden desire for Feroxian spices? That is what I am tasting, is it not?"

"P-probably," she stammered, tilting her head to the side as if she were trying to avoid looking him in the eyes directly, her cheeks still flaming. "You should not thank me for the soup though, sir, I did not make it."

"Oh?"

"I- I took your advice and went on a short walk to cool off and when I got back, well, I found that dinner was already on the boil and half my chores were done." She gave a quick glance up at him with a strange emotion in her eyes that he could not quite place. "It turns out sir, that Lon'qu had done it all."

"Really?" Chrom asked surprised.

"Yes, he said that he did it because, to learn to fence, one needs focus. My other work was distracting me. He has been giving me fencing lessons in exchange for helping him out in battle, by the way of repaying a debt. He says that that is all there it to it, but I am beginning to wonder if that gruff, taciturn attitude of his is merely a facade." She smiled to herself, "If I had known that his debt repaying would include helping me out with more than my swordsmanship I would have saved his life sooner."

Chrom chuckled at her joke, and she looked away and awkwardly shuffled her feet.

By this time Chrom had finished his stew and happily went for a bite of pie. Pie was his favorite desert and this one did not disappoint. "The pie is also delicious," he said. "How did you manage desert?"

"Actually, Gaius felt a little better and came to help me as much as he could. This pie was his recipe; he said he had been working on it with Olivia.

"Gaius?" Chrom asked. "The last I saw, he was barely conscious."

"I owe and apology to Stahl," Cordelia said softly. "When I chased him away and yelled at him earlier for snaking, instead of getting upset over that, he had remembered that I had yelled about Gaius being sick and unable to help and went to see what he could do. His father was an apothecary, you know. His dad had found out that when people suffer from blood loss sickness the mineral iron and a few other herbs I can't remember often help. Gaius felt well enough after to lend me a hand."

Cordelia seemed to have caught sight of something in the distance and she fidgeted slightly before asking his leave. He gladly gave it. She walked off in the direction of the training grounds after thanking him, her normal confident baring returning as soon as she was a fair distance away. Chrom shook his head in confusion.

As if the mere mention of his name a few moments ago had called him hence, Chrom felt his plate lighten almost imperceptibly.

"Put it back, Gaius," he warned in a teasing manner.

His plate took on its normal weight again as his pie was returned and Chrom turned around to see a smiling thief.

"Heya Blue," Gaius smiled broadly and casually as if he had not just been caught in the act of desert pilfering. His face was still very pale and he sat gingerly down next to him, his movements still pretty slow and careful.

Chrom smiled, "I'm glad you are feeling better, and I wanted to thank you again for what you did."

Gaius shrugged as he moved the new lollipop he had gotten from Robin from one cheek to the other, his usual smirk lighting up his face.

"I should be the one thanking you for saving me from bleeding to death, Bubbles and Twinkles too."

"What?" Chrom grinned, "You don't want any rewards or 'sweetened deals' for you efforts?"

"Well those are always nice, but I don't need it. Though, you and I could take a few hours off in the next town," he said suggestively before he closed his eyes and swayed slightly.

"I will think about it," Chrom said and then added, "you should probably get some rest."

"You're probably right," he said, his smirk fading into a bothered expression, his eyes looking troubled. "I'll bid you good night then."

Chrom got half smile from the thief and watched as Gaius slowly made his way, not to his own tent, but to Maribelle's. Chrom remembered both her and Gaius's strange and rather tensioned filled encounters, and hoped that they would settle whatever was off between them.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Cordelia and Lon'qu training together.

"Lon'qu," Chrom thought with a frown as he watched the swordsman instructing Cordelia at a distance.

He remembered how the Myrmidon had heard or sensed the approach of Libra and Miriel long before anyone else had and there was no denying he was exceptionally skilled with the blade. Also, because of the swordsman's condition, he could trust him to be an honorable guard around his sister. The swordsman would never get too close, and would always be respectful of his sister's person.

No matter how much he liked Vaike as a friend, there was no way he would ever dare give him anything near temptation when it came to his sister. Lon'qu had always seemed dedicated and trustworthy. Also, he had a feeling that, if anyone could help the swordsman through his issue with women, it would be Lissa. Knowing his sister, she would definitely try. It could just be beneficial to the both of them.

Finally satisfied that he had found the answer to the problem of the assassins and a bodyguard for his sister; he started forwards towards his sister's tent to get her thoughts on the matter. Using the glow of the rising full moon as a light, he walked through the encampment.

As he drew nearer he heard a weird sound emanating from his sisters quarters. His mind still filled with thoughts of assassins, he silently crept forward, his stomach clenching with worry, until his nervous ears recognized the sound of laughter, hysterical laughter.

Chrom stopped puzzled for a moment, and then he felt his stomach drop when the cold realization of what had happened hit him. When he had been removing posters, Argon's tent had been the _second_ to last. While he had been fleeing thorough the woods, he had forgotten to take down the poster in Lissa's tent. Now he guessed that his oversight was now the source of her mirth.

Cheeks flaming, he pushed aside the canvas flaps and stepped inside. The laughter ceased.

"Chrom!" Lissa looked at him with an all too innocently serious expression on her pretty face. She chocked, regained her composure for a fraction of a second, snorted and then fell over laughing so hard she could hardly breathe.

"Please tell me," she said between giggles, "tell me that was not your idea."

Chrom just ran a hand through his hair in humiliation as he glanced helplessly at the deplorable poster tacked on her canvas wall.

"But," more laughter, "the good news is, at least I know that my brother wants me!" another fit of guffaws.

Chrom stalked to the tent's wall and shredded the poster. Such, however, was the contagious effect of Lissa's laughter, he found himself smiling despite his embarrassment.

"I'm sorry you had to see that."

Another snort of helpless mirth was all he got in answer.

Chrom sighed, a faint smile playing across his lips. At least the posters had made someone happy,' he thought wryly.

As soon as he left his sister's tent, he headed for his own, the one he shared with Sumia. He took a deep breath to steady himself before entering. His hand clutched tight around the small bouquet of wild flowers he had picked on his way over, as he ran through what he would say to her to make it up.

He loved her and she was the most important woman in his life. He wished that he could find a way to keep himself from phrasing ill thought out responses to things and he wished he could instead find ways to tell her how much he cared, how much she meant to him. He wished he could tell her how he was sorry he had ever hurt her and wished he could keep the turmoil in his own mind from hurting those around him. He wished that words could be taken back. He wished he could say he thought she was beautiful and tell her how he loved how she was always willing to talk and be with him even when he was having difficult moments in his life. Their life was too danger filled and short for ill-conceived phrases and gestures on his part and, if he could, he would do anything to make it up to her. Perhaps, he thought as he stepped inside, he would just tell her just that.

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><p><strong>AN:** Thank you all for reading! Like I've said before, I really do enjoy/appreciate getting feedback. The last chapter should be up at about the same time next week. I hope you all have a totally blessed and enjoyable week! Until next time! Thanks again!


	5. Night- Epilogue

**Night- Epilogue**

**A/N:** This is the last chapter, actually more of an epilogue because it is admittedly pretty short, but it does bring everything to a close. I want to thank all who read reviewed favorited and followed, it's you who provide the inspiration, so thanks again. I really hope that this story proved as enjoyable for you to read as it was for me to write. Thanks again!

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><p><strong>Night- Epilogue<strong>

Chrom sat at his desk, going through his stack of papers one last time before he allowed himself to rest for the night. He had, only a few hours ago, wondered how his sister had managed to lead the people with such apparent ease and grace. He supposed he had an idea of an answer now. She had merely never given up her hope and trust in them.

It was true that, when it came down to it, he was a leader of overemotional hormonal teenagers with issues. But it was also true that they were like a family. They grew and learned from each other through fellowship and support. Every one of them was united to fight for what was right, for those who could not help themselves, and for each other… Somehow, that in itself made all their struggles and hardships worth it.

Earlier in the day he had claimed that the Shepherds' bonds had been formed by loss, pain, desperation, and hardship. That had been true. However, there was much more to it than that. There was also dedication, determination, honor, hope, and love. Even though they all had a knack for trying each other's patience, they were completely loyal- not only to their family, but to their cause.

They were an odd bunch but, in reality, what family was ever completely without its quirks. Maybe they had all suffered at the hands of the shadows of their world- felt grief, fear, pain and rejection, but at the end of the day they had each other and that was enough. If a person was defined by those at his side, then he was indeed a lucky commander to have such men as these- men who followed him out of a loyalty that sprang from trust, friendship and even love.

This day had been without a doubt one of the hardest he had faced in a long while, but perhaps the secret to leadership was focusing on the few worth wile blessings of their hard life. He still had several problems forming a mire in his mind- what with assassins, mysterious crazed evil look-alikes, and in general the problems with running an army- but he was no longer trapped within that mire. Though hardships would most assuredly come with the same unwavering certainty of the setting sun, he was sure that they would surmount them all- just as the setting sun gave the promise to rise again.

With his mind finally at ease, he glanced lovingly at Sumia who was already asleep in their shared cot with a petal-less flower griped in her sleeping hand. She had accepted his apology before he had even finished voicing it, but she had made him promise to tell her next time when he was troubled instead of holding it all in for himself. She had said that she would always be there to listen.

He brought his focus back to his desk. He had marked out a few ideas of the best route to take out of the foothills, but had not yet actually chosen one. It was something that needed to be decided upon as soon as possible.

He knew Robin was something of a night owl and she would definitely be awake, so he decided to get her opinion before he called it a night. Map in hand, he slipped out of his tent and padded softly to his friend's quarters. He rapped softly on her tent pole and heard an unclear muffled response.

"What was that?" he asked, pulling the flaps aside and stepping in.

Once he did, he realized his mistake: in all the stress of the day, he had forgotten that he had asked Robin to find a new location for the woman's bathing tent until the old one was fully mended. It was only logical that she had switched hers out for the one with the hole and he had just not found out in time. She had had all her stuff temporarily moved to the busted tent and had commissioned hers as the new bathing tent.

Here he was doing the exact same thing he had chastised Vaike and Virion about earlier. His face flamed red, and all he could bring himself to think was 'no, not again.' To his shame, this was not the first time he had made this blunder.

"Chrom!" Robin screeched.

"I am so sorry," he stammered as he tried to avert his eyes and dodge a flying soap dish at the same time.

**~The End~**

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><p><strong>AN:** thanks again for reading. Feedback is very appreciated. May you all have the very best of weeks!

~Kazi

**~ATGTJ~**


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